2026 Winner

CASE SUMMARY

In 2025, the Canadian government introduced the Canada Disability Benefit (CDB), offering $200/month to people with disabilities. While positioned as progress, the reality was stark: $200 a month is just $6.67 a day, barely enough for groceries, let alone the added costs of living with a disability.

To drive meaningful change, they needed Canadians to act, not just care. But first, the agency had to meet them in a way that would cut through.

So, they launched the CDB Diet, inviting creators to live on $6.67 a day. As influencers documented the challenge across social, a policy issue became tangible, emotional, and impossible to ignore.

The campaign generated more than 6 million earned media impressions, coverage in 18 outlets and 64,496 emails to MPs. But the most important result was real policy impact: the federal government committed an additional $115.7 million to the CDB, turning public pressure into meaningful change.

In March 2025, the Canadian government announced the Canada Disability Benefit (CDB), offering up to $200 per month to people with disabilities on top of existing provincial supports.

While framed as progress, the reality was far less meaningful. At $200 a month, the benefit was simply too low to materially improve life for Canadians already struggling to afford basic necessities. And when factoring in the additional costs associated with living with a disability, the gap becomes even more severe.

For Daily Bread Food Bank, this issue was deeply personal to its mission, with one in four food bank clients in Toronto living with a disability. The Daily Bread’s goal is not only to provide emergency food support, but ultimately to reduce the need for food banks altogether.

Daily Bread came to us with a clear mandate: cut through public apathy and generate enough pressure to force government action.

At just $200 per month, the Canada Disability Benefit provides only $6.67 per day for people with disabilities to get by – an amount so small it wouldn’t even cover daily groceries for one person.

Make the reality of living on $6.67/day impossible to ignore by inviting Canadians to try the “CDB Diet” with creators.

They launched the CDB Diet as if it were a real wellness trend. Creators posted native “What I Eat in a Day on $6.67” videos across their channels, showing the tiny portions, compromises, and trade-offs required to eat on that amount.

To make the campaign feel culturally authentic, they created a full wellness-style ecosystem: social content, influencer storytelling, out-of-home placements, and a polished campaign website that mirrored modern diet culture.

They didn’t over-explain. They let audiences react. They shared comments filled with disbelief, frustration, and outrage.

Once the conversation reached critical momentum, they revealed the truth. This wasn’t the latest fad diet. It was the daily value of the Canada Disability Benefit.

All campaign touchpoints redirected audiences to FundTheBenefit.ca/cdb-diet, where Canadians could learn about the funding gap and take action by emailing their Member of Parliament in one click.

Creators echoed the reveal. Paid social retargeted engaged audiences. PR amplified the story into national media and political coverage, moving the conversation from social feeds into mainstream discourse.

Finally, they ensured the pressure reached Parliament. They delivered CDB-branded food boxes with $6.67 worth of groceries to MPs, physically demonstrating the inadequacy of the benefit. They also placed out-of-home media around Parliament Hill to keep the issue visible where decisions were being made. By this point, the issue had moved from social media to the national agenda.

In a landscape where Canadians are overwhelmed by causes, numbers alone weren’t enough to drive action. So instead of telling people it wasn’t enough, they showed them.

Strategy transformed $200/month from an abstract statistic into what it actually means for Canadians on a day-to-day basis.

By partnering with creators and tapping into the cultural language of “What I Eat in a Day,” they turned $6.67/day into something tangible, relatable, and shareable, moving the issue from policy into people’s daily lives.

As the campaign spread, the conversation grew quickly. Influencers documenting the CDB Diet sparked outrage and debate across social feeds.

Increasing the CDB was raised 8 times on the floor of Parliament during the course of our campaign.

Then came the moment they had been hoping for. On November 4, 2025, the federal budget announced an additional $115.7 million was allocated to support Canadians with disabilities.

It was bigger than any campaign result they could have asked for. More importantly, it meant real financial support for people who needed it most.

As MP Karim Bardeesy put it: “The Canada Disability Benefit has just come in. I know there has been mention of the Daily Bread Food Bank and [CEO] Neil Hetherington, and I want to thank Neil for his work advocating for the Canada Disability Benefit.”

Credits

Creative Agency: Leo Toronto
Design Agency: Leo Design
President: Ben Tarr
Chief Strategy Officer: Tahir Ahmad
Chief Creative Officer: Angus Tucker
Managing Director, Strategic Growth & Operations: Anchie Contractor
Executive Creative Director/Copywriter: Kohl Forsberg
Creative Director/Art Director: Tyler McKissick
Creative Director: Dylan Wagman
Associate Creative Director/Copywriter: Appanna Chetranda
Senior Art Director: Francin Cruz
Senior Design Director: Matt Boyd
Design Director: Marcelo Hong
Designer: Donna Liu
Group Strategy Director: Ryan Roberts
Senior Strategist: Alex Singleton
VP, Group Director: Kim Le
Account Directors: Krzysztof Iwanicki, Simon Fernande

MSL
Account Managers: Tien Truong, Andrea Trias
Account Associate: Yasmin Ansari

Leo Productions/Le Pub
VP Integrated Production: Gord Cathmoir
Broadcast Business Manager: Lisa Devine
Executive Producer: Janice Rebelo
Producer: Marisa DeBartolo
Post Producer: Julie Neff
Senior Editors: Peter Guzda, Jeff Poremba
Audio Engineers: Gabriel Rondeau, Marc-Andre Charbonneau
Audio Producer: Elyse Brunette
Manager, Print Production and Studio: Kevin Stephen
Project Director: Thomas Degez
Associate Director, Digital: David Freedman
Print Producer: Carly Price
Digital Project Manager: Dalise Torres

Daily Bread Food Bank
CEO: Neil Hetherington
Interim VP, Marketing and Communications: Joanna Dwyer
Interim VP, Research and Advocacy: Rose Butler
Marketing and Communications Manager: Giao Chau